HET OUDE HOF & RENÉ DESCARTES

René Descartes by Jan Baptist Weenix circa 1647-1649

Opening sunday March 30, an exhibition about Het Oude Hof in Bergen, Noord Holland.

Het Oude Hof was a park modelled after Versailles, though much smaller, located on the 17th century estate of a young aristocrat, Anthonis Studler Van Zurck. His friend and philosopher René Descartes helped him plan the park, introducing the latest french designs. Work began even before Versailles was finished.
Nowadays the park is reduced to its paths and outlines: a fading memory. Nevertheless it is and has been an inspiration for artists throughout the centuries.

Around Amsterdam many of these Baroque estates entertained the aristocracy and most of all the weatlhy merchants.
Besides the many artifacts that illustrate this leisurely life style from the past, about a dozen contemporary artists made work related to Het Oude Hof and René Descartes:

Diana Blok

Carlijn Mens

Meinbert Gozewijn van Soest

Caitlin Hulscher

Roy Villevoye

Kees Visser

Dineke Blom

Koos Breukel

Paul van den Hout

Manon van Kouswijk

Ronald Noorman

Anthonie Sas

Luuk de Haan


Kranenburgh

Hoflaan 26
1861 CR Bergen
www.kranenburgh.nl

BACK TO THE FUTURE

Older designs reworked: Kirk and Spock on Smartphones.

'Back To The Future' (2007-2014)

UCO II

'Study for UCO - II' (2013)

UCO

'Study for UCO - I' (2013)

Unidentified Censored Object

'Unidentified Censored Object (Pixelated Lost Soul)' (2013)

Visualization for next project, spring 2014.

Overtaken by the Future

In some of my work I speculate on 'hot' phenomena to dissolve and disappear in the future; for example we all know YouTube isn't going to last forever.

Some phenomena disappear quicker then expected.

The work titled '20th Century Nostalgia (Slapstick)' combined a very 20th century phenomenon with an image very much part of 'now'. That 'now' will definitely be part of histroy soon.

Slapstick can not be seen apart from the first era of motion picture history. Although it is still very popular in contemporary comedy, slapstick will always be associated with the movies from the 1920's and 30's.

At this moment most of us use Facebook as a social tool. We all use the 'like' button several times a day, but the famous 'thumbs up' will disappear in the near future. An icon will disappear, as most of the Facebook users associate the 'thumb' and 'like'.

The work titled '20th Century Nostalgia (Slapstick)' in consequence should be retitled '20th & 21st Century Nostalgia (Slapstick)' ... but, well I think I'll just leave it as it is for now.

'20th Century Nostalgia (Slapstick)'

ARTIST TALK

Artist Talk at Pictura in Dordrecht, last sunday. The talk between Ronald Cornelissen and Paul van den Hout is led by Dees Linders (Head Office SIR - Sculpture International Rotterdam).

Photo's: Theun Okkerse.